Obesity costs U.S. health system $147 billion: study

Kudos, fatsos.

"Obesity-related diseases account for nearly 10 percent of all U.S. medical spending or an estimated $147 billion a year, researchers said on Monday.

They said U.S. obesity rates rose 37 percent between 1998 and 2006, driving an 89 percent increase in spending on treatments for obesity-related diseases such as diabetes, heart disease, arthritis and other conditions.

Obese people spent an extra $1,429 per year or 42 percent more for medical care in 2006 than did normal weight people, with most of that spent on prescription drugs, the researchers said."

Likely much, much more in total.

Note that these are just the sick care costs for the obese, not other related costs like lost productivity or the costs of the overweight.

"The study, published in the journal Health Affairs, was released at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's Weight of the Nation conference in Washington, where the CDC issued 24 new recommendations on how communities can fight back."

More of the same conventional stupidity. (check them out here, go to page 4)

No hope.

If you really want to fight back, go here and here and get started.

If you want to learn how to shed the pounds, go here.